Calls to reinforce the Basque Process

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday January 04, 2007 15:14 by Irish Basque Committees irishbasques at hotmail dot com

The leader of the banned left wing pro-independence political party Batasuna, Arnaldo Otegi, has assured that the attack perpetrated last Saturday morning in the Madrilenian airport of Barajas does not imply the rupture of the peace process. Infact, he has appealed to "serenity and responsibility".

"The process is not broken", has insisted calmly, in fact, now it is more necessary than never to maintain it alife "because is what the Basque and Spanish majorities want" it is time to reinforce and estabilise it.

Just after that, Arnaldo Otegi remenbered that in the last few moths Batasuna has many times denounced that the process to overcome the conflict had structural problems. Also mentioned that in the past nine months no party's board has been formed, that there is no agreement and also, has not neared the prisoners and Iñaki de Juana Chaos, in hunger strike, is on the verge of dying "tied to the bed of a hospital".

He has criticized that representatives of the socialist Executive "have been boasted to have done less than the others" in previous truces. All of these, Batasuna believes, clearly shows how fragil the pocess really was. Otegi has blame the Spanish government of letting the ceasefire reach to an end underlining that a process can not be built in such a situation.

Never the less the situation is not "Broken" believes the left pro-independence party, "the process is necessary and we must go on "underlining its compromise to go to the end. Strong bases are needed, "Sadly, if there was anything agreed it has not been fulfilled and if there was none nothing has been built" said Otegi.

"Todays attack must not bring us back to the situation before the 24th March" day of the cease-fire was called. To re-start the process and go on with the talks some "basic conditions" must be ensured. All the differents sensibilities must take part in a process to build a new framework in the absence of violence based on respect.

"All the parties involved must take part on this compromise towards resolution, Batasuna will forward new ideas to make that dialogue posible." In his intervention, the spokesman of Batasuna has expressed his"solidarity with the wounded" and their hope "so that they appear the bodies of the missing persons."